Download - forensic medicine

JIAFM, 2007 - 29(4); ISSN: 0971-0973
The Fire is Both “A Blessing & Scourge to the Mankind”
*Dr. H.M. Mangal, **Dr. Akhilesh Pathak and ***Dr. J.S. Rathod
* Professor & Head, PDU Medical College, Rajkot.
** Assistant Professor, PDU Medical College, Rajkot.
*** Assistant Professor, CU Shah Medical College, Surendranagar.
Corresponding Author: -
Dr. Akhilesh Pathak
Assistant Professor,
Department of Forensic Medicine,
PDU Medical College,
Rajkot. (Gujarat)
E-mail: dr.akhilesh_pathak@yahoo.co.in
Abstract
Man has always needed fire either to prepare his food to satisfy his hunger or to induce warmth during winters.
Simultaneously he is constantly exposed to the hazards of burns, which begins right from the day one of his life,
when the maternity nurse gives him the first hot water bath. That is why it is said, “The fire has been both a
blessing and scourge to the mankind”. The present study was conducted in department of forensic medicine PDU
Medical College, Rajkot during the period from Nov.2004 to Oct.2005 with a view to study the profile of burn
cases brought for the post mortem examination. All the data related to age, sex, marital status, type and manner
of burns with area involved, and survival time were recorded with detailed autopsy examination and subsequently
analyzed statistically. We reached at a conclusion that majority of the victims were married females of younger
age group between 20-40 years, with an extensive accidental flame burns.
Key words: - Burn, Dowry deaths and Unnatural deaths in women.
Introduction:
Burning has always been a dreaded threat to the
sensitive human body. With advent of gasoline,
automobiles and aeroplanes in the civil life and of
bombing in wartime, the threat has increased. Now
we have entered the era of atomic bomb and the
threat has expanded like the “Arabian Genie”,
emerging from the bottle. Hiroshima & Nagasaki
bomb blast incidence bears the testimony where
more than 80% of causalities took place only
because of burns.
Dowry deaths in India have become a problem of
great concern. Almost every day we get to see in the
electronic media and so to read in the newspapers,
case of young women either being burnt or provoked
to commit suicides by the husband and in-laws, just
for the dowry. At the same time accidental burns in
women also occur commonly, to which they are
more vulnerable as most of the women (housewives)
spend their time in the household especially in the
kitchen.
Thus the higher incidences of burns in the
Saurashtra region and high mortality rates in these
cases even with advanced medical facilities, has
prompted us to undertake this study, hence this
study was undertaken to know epidemiological
aspects, pattern and other significant features of
death due to burns, and to compare with the
observations of various authors by scientific
discussion.
Material and Method:
Total 1694 autopsies were conducted in the
mortuary of PDU Medical College, Rajkot from
Nov.2004 to Oct.2005. During that period, out of
1694 cases, 300 cases of burns were selected for
this study. Related general information likes the age,
gander, marital status, hospital stay and the history
about scene of crime, etc. of the cases was
collected from relatives, eyewitnesses, concerned
investigating police officer and police panchanama.
At the time of post mortem, the gross features of
burns during external and internal examination were
noted with an attention to examination of clothes.
Every attempt was made to find out the source
causing the casualty, types of burn with their
duration, and manner of burns, area involved and
finally the cause of death in all cases. All findings
were compiled in a specially designed Performa for
study and the data were reduced to tables, graphs
and subsequently subjected to computer added
statistically analysis and conclusions were drawn
after comparing and discussing with similar type of
the work carried out by foreign and Indian authors.
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